1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector equipped with a plug connector and a receptacle connector which are capable of being connected and disconnected to and from each other. Even when the plug connector and the receptacle connector are brought into engagement with each other with some amount of positional deviation therebetween, the connector absorbs this positional deviation to thereby enable the plug connector and the receptacle connector to be electrically connected to each other with reliability.
2. Description of the Prior Art
This type of connector is usually called a “floating connector”, and conventional floating connectors are disclosed in, e.g., Japanese unexamined patent application publications Nos. 2007-18785 and 2007-220327.
One of the plug connector and the receptacle connector includes a first fixed insulator, a set of first contacts and a first movable insulator. The set of first contacts are cantilevered by the first fixed insulator in a state of being aligned in a direction orthogonal to a linear approaching/retreating direction (linear connecting/disconnecting direction) in which the plug connector and the receptacle connector are connected and disconnected to and from each other, and the first movable insulator is supported by the free end of each first contact. Each first contact includes a resiliently deformable portion capable of being resiliently deformed in two axial directions: the aforementioned orthogonal direction and a direction orthogonal to both the linear approaching/retreating direction and the aforementioned orthogonal direction. On the other hand, the other of the plug connector and the receptacle connector includes a second fixed insulator and a set of second contacts that are supported by the second fixed insulator in a state of being aligned in one direction.
The plug connector and the receptacle connector of the connector which are separate from each other can be connected together by being linearly moved toward each other along the linear approaching/retreating direction with the center axes of the plug connector and the receptacle connector coincident with each other. Upon connection of the plug connector and the receptacle connector to each other, the set of first contacts and the set of second contacts respectively come in contact with each other while the first movable insulator and the second fixed insulator are connected (engaged) with each other.
In addition, the plug connector and the receptacle connector of the connector can be connected to each other even when moved toward each other along the aforementioned linear engaging/disengaging direction with the center axes of the plug connector and the receptacle connector deviating from each other by some degree. More specifically, in this case, if the first movable insulator and the second fixed insulator come in contact with each other with the axes thereof misaligned, a resilient deformation of the resiliently deformable portion of each first contact causes the first movable insulator to move slightly to a position where the first movable insulator becomes coaxial with the second fixed insulator, and subsequently the plug connector and the receptacle connector are engaged with each other after the first movable insulator and the second fixed insulator become coaxial with each other.
Recently, there has been a demand for high speed transmission compatibility even with floating connectors in response to the increase in the volume of information handled by electronic equipment and an increase in communication speed of such electronic equipment.
Since the aforementioned one of the plug connector and the receptacle connector is structured to allow the resiliently deformable portion of each first contact to be resiliently deformed in the aforementioned two axial directions, spaces (clearances), which allow the aforementioned resiliently deformable portions of the set of first contacts to be resiliently deformed in the aforementioned orthogonal direction, need to be provided at portions of the first fixed insulator and at the first movable insulator adjacent to the resiliently deformable portions. Accordingly, in the first fixed insulator and the first movable insulator of the related art, a space (groove) extending in the aforementioned orthogonal direction is formed, and the resiliently deformable portion of each first contact is positioned in this space. This space has been conventionally indispensable to meet the recent market demand for the contact pitch to be small and for the tolerance of deviation (positional deviation) between the center axes of the plug connector and the receptacle connector to be large.
However, if the aforementioned space that allows the resiliently deformable portion of each first contact to be resiliently deformed is formed on the first fixed insulator and the first movable insulator, no material exists between adjacent first contacts, so that the relative permittivity is fixed at 1, which makes it difficult to adjust the impedance of adjacent first contacts.
Additionally, since the resiliently deformable portion of each first contact is an element deformable in at least two axial directions, the resiliently deformable portion of each first contact is required to be reduced in cross sectional area so as to have satisfactory resiliency. However, for instance, the electrical resistance of the conductor increases as the resiliently deformable portion is reduced in cross sectional area, which is unfavorable with respect to transmission characteristics.
For this reason, in the connector having the above described structure, it is difficult to improve the transmission characteristics of the set of first contacts.